Corporation for Public Broadcasting dissolves itself after Trump's funding cuts

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has revealed that its board has voted to dissolve the organization after 58 years, following the Trump administration's move to defund the organization that supported NPR and PBS.

"For more than half a century, CPB existed to ensure that all Americans—regardless of geography, income, or background—had access to trusted news, educational programming, and local storytelling," CPB president and CEO Patricia Harrison said in a statement Monday. "When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks."

"What has happened to public media is devastating," CPB’s Board of Directors chair Ruby Calvert said. "After nearly six decades of innovative, educational public television and radio service, Congress eliminated all funding for CPB, leaving the Board with no way to continue the organization or support the public media system that depends on it. Yet, even in this moment, I am convinced that public media will survive, and that a new Congress will address public media’s role in our country because it is critical to our children's education, our history, culture and democracy to do so."

CPB stated that it plans to allocate its remaining financial resources ahead of its formal shutdown, per Fox News. The organization had previously announced in August that it would cease operations after cuts to its federal funding.

For many years, Republicans have made eliminating government support for public broadcasting a policy goal and that effort succeeded last summer when President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers removed public media funding for PBS and NPR. Both outlets have been accused of left-wing bias in their reporting and were being subsidized by the taxpayer.

In March, NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger appeared before Congress to defend their networks. During the hearings, both leaders were pressed by Republican lawmakers over longstanding accusations of bias and claims that their programming promotes far-left viewpoints.